Kansas City Royals

Kansas City Royals manager Ned Yost broke his pelvis after falling from a tree in Georgia last week. On Monday, he spoke about the severity of the life-threatening injury.

"There's no doubt I would have bled out if I didn't have my cellphone with me," he told Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com. "There was nobody that was coming. Nobody would have found me. I would have been dead by nightfall."

He continued, "The trauma surgeon said, 'Man, Ned, I was really scared about you. We've seen these things before—this is a 25-30 percent mortality rate. You were crashing on the table. We couldn't get the bleeding stopped. I thought we were going to lose you.'"

Yost also confirmed he would need a wheelchair for two months:

Ned Yost also said he will be in a wheelchair for at least two months but hopes to be able to move around normally by Spring Training. He tells me he feels "like a lucky man" right now.

— Jeffrey Flanagan (@FlannyMLB) November 13, 2017

He regularly spends much of his offseason hunting on his Georgia property, so the fact that he was up in a deer stand and isolated in the wilderness wasn't surprising. 

"You've got people pulling on you," Yost told Kent Babb of the Kansas City Star in 2012, contrasting his duties as a manager with the opportunity to spend time on his farm. "You've got your coaches, you've got your players; you're worried about this, you're worried about that. But out here, you don't. You're just in the tractor. With the air conditioning going on, it don't matter."

Yost, 63, has spent eight seasons as the Royals' manager, going 629-632 in that time. He led the team to back-to-back World Series trips in 2014-15, winning a title in the 2015 season.

Kansas City Royals manager Ned Yost reportedly suffered a broken pelvis and was hospitalized.

According to a Wednesday story from Ari Gilberg of the New York Daily News, multiple reports noted the team confirmed the injury. It happened after he fell from a tree while working on a stand, although he is expected to fully recover.

Royals general manager Dayton Moore said Yost will be ready for the 2018 campaign, per Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star. Dodd also noted club officials are "hopeful" Yost can make the trip to the winter meetings in December.

Yost managed the Royals in each of the last eight seasons. While they missed the playoffs in 2017 with an 80-82 record, he led them to two straight World Series appearances in 2014 and 2015.

Kansas City won the 2015 Fall Classic in five games over the New York Mets.

After a disappointing 2017 season, Ian Kennedy will reportedly decline the opt-out option on his contract to remain with the Kansas City Royals.   

Per Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports, Kennedy will make $43 million over the final three years of his deal by staying with the Royals. 

In 30 starts and 154 innings last season, Kennedy had a 5.38 ERA with 131 strikeouts and 34 home runs allowed. 

The 32-year-old missed two weeks in May because of a strained hamstring he suffered during a start against the Chicago White Sox on May 4. 

Kennedy signed a five-year deal with the Royals worth $70 million in January 2016. He delivered in his first season with the team, posting a 3.68 ERA and 184 strikeouts over 195.2 innings and tied his career high with 33 starts. 

Now that the Royals have an answer on Kennedy's contract, they will turn their attention toward free agents Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas and Lorenzo Cain as they try to get back into the American League playoff conversation after missing out the past two seasons. 

Mired in a dreadful offensive funk, Alex Gordon at least continues to play spectacular defense.

The Kansas City Royals outfielder entered Monday's game against the Detroit Tigers with an abysmal .197/.281/.283 slash line. Prior to Monday, his last hit came on Aug. 25, and he belted his last home run on July 3.

If he can't enjoy any homers, then neither can Mikey Mahtook.  

In the fourth inning Monday, the four-time Gold Glove winner lunged over the left field wall to strip Mahtook of a three-run blast. That was just the latest in a series of unfortunate events for the Detroit outfielder, who helped Jose Ramirez earn an unconventional home run Sunday.

Mahtook had a chance for revenge in the ninth. After Nick Castellanos cut the deficit to one with a three-run homer, James McCann and Jeimer Candelario extended the rally with singles. Mahtook proceeded to end the 7-6 loss with a groundout.

[MLB]

Kansas City Royals general manager Dayton Moore suggested there is a link between watching pornography and domestic abuse during a Tuesday press conference.

The Facebook page of True Blue Everything: Kansas City Royals shared a portion of the press conference:

Lindsey Adler of Deadspin noted the press conference was held to discuss how the Royals would deal with pitcher Danny Duffy. Matt Campbell, Pete Grathoff and Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star reported Duffy was cited for a DUI on Sunday.

Adler passed along some of Moore's comments that stood out:

"We've done a lot of leadership stuff with our players. Very transparent about things that happen in our game, not only with drugs and alcohol. We talk about pornography, and the effects of what that does to the minds of players and the distractions, and how that leads to abuse of—domestic abuse—to abuse of women. How it impacts relationships—we talk about a lot of things. And I don't mind sharing with you."

According to the Kansas City Star report, Duffy—who is on the disabled list with an elbow injury—was arrested in a Burger King parking lot Sunday night. The report noted Major League Baseball or the team can punish a player after he is charged with DUI, although both cannot.

"There's obviously consequences for actions," Moore said of Duffy, per the Kansas City Star. "That's the way life works. And that's the way it should work. That's the way we expect it to work. And it will work."

Kansas City Royals pitcher Danny Duffy was cited Sunday for a DUI.

Per Matt Campbell and Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star, Duffy was cited by an Overland Park police officer around 8 p.m. local time for driving under the influence. 

Per TMZ Sports, Duffy wasn't placed in jail because alleged DUI offenders in Kansas "can be cited and picked up by a friend," according to an Overland Park city official. The report also says Duffy was stopped by police at a Burger King. 

Duffy is scheduled to have an appearance in municipal court Sept. 19, according to the report. 

The 28-year-old Duffy was placed on the 10-day disabled list Sunday with a sore left elbow. Royals manager Ned Yost said an MRI revealed Duffy had a low-grade pronator strain, and the team was hopeful he would miss only one start, per MLB.com's Jeffrey Flanagan.

In 21 starts this season, Duffy has a 3.78 ERA with 116 strikeouts and 36 walks in 131 innings. He missed more than one month from May 29 through July 4 with a strained oblique. 

Alex Gordon was the first and best cornerstone player of the Kansas City Royals' back-to-back World Series teams. It's fitting that he owns the largest contract in franchise history.

But it's also increasingly inconvenient.

When the Royals re-signed Gordon for four years and $72 million in January 2016, he was 10 years removed from being selected No. 2 overall by Kansas City in 2005, fresh off a starring role in their first World Series title since 1985 and well-established as one of Major League Baseball's best players.

Between 2011 and 2015, only six position players racked up more wins above replacement. That had much to do with Gordon's peerless defense in left field, but good offense was also part of the bargain. He averaged an .809 OPS with 18 home runs and 10 stolen bases per season.

"No man has greater symbolized the Royals' rise from charred rubble to championship rings like Gordon, and that continues now," Sam Mellinger of the Kansas City Star wrote to commemorate Gordon's re-signing.

But in just the second year of the pact, the 33-year-old has turned into a symbol for the Royals' descent into mediocrity. His once-solid offense has deteriorated into nothing.

Gordon's bat showed signs of decline last year, producing just a .692 OPS across 128 games. Now it's downright bad. Through 112 games, he has a .572 OPS that ranks dead last among batting title qualifiers:

Player	Team	OPS
Alex Gordon	KCR	.572
Alcides Escobar	KCR	.585
Dansby Swanson	ATL	.623
Jose Iglesias	DET	.625
Billy Hamilton	CIN	.627

Albert Pujols has accounted for less offensive WAR than Gordon, but he's hit 18 home runs to Gordon's five. Since Gordon also ranks last among qualified hitters in adjusted OPS+ and is the only qualified hitter with a slash line worse than .200/.300/.300, calling him MLB's worst offensive player is fair game.

Mind you, continuing to play him every day hasn't been a total loss for the Royals.

He remains an elite defender, as he leads all left fielders in ultimate zone rating and ranks second in defensive runs saved. This is keeping his WAR out of the red, hence why he didn't make the cut as one of the most overpaid stars of 2017.

Another silver lining is that Kansas City's payroll doesn't revolve around Gordon. His $16 million salary accounted for just 11.2 percent of the club's $143 million in Opening Day commitments. Among payroll-hogging stars, that ranks near the bottom.

That's it for the bright sides, though. And none of them can hide the dark side that is Gordon's offense.

He can still put the ball in play, as his strikeout rate is back down to a passable 22.3 percent after spiking in 2016. The catch is that he's no longer dangerous when he does make contact. Both his average launch angle and exit velocity are at their lowest points of the Statcast era.

In plain English: He's hitting the ball lower and softer. That's leading to all sorts of trouble.

Gordon's ground-ball percentage is the highest it's been since 2009, and his spray heatmap reveals how an overwhelming majority of his grounders have been pulled to the right side of the infield.

That's no way for a left-handed hitter to live in the Golden Age of Shifts. Sure enough, Gordon is seeing more of those and is being humbled by them to an even greater degree than usual:

Year	PA/G vs. Shift	OPS vs. Shift
2014	1.9	.635
2015	1.9	.640
2016	1.8	.667
2017	2.1	.541

What is causing all this? Theories abound.

Back in April, Jesse Newell of the Star cited a possible mechanical flaw as the culprit. Later in May, the Star's Rustin Dodd reported that Royals manager Ned Yost was pointing an accusing finger at the broken hand Gordon suffered last season. For all anyone knows, perhaps he never fully recovered from the groin injury he suffered in 2015. Or, this could just be a 33-year-old feeling his age.

Regardless of the exact cause, pitchers have caught on to Gordon's demise as much as defenses have. He's seeing a career-high rate of pitches in the strike zone. That's sent his walk percentage careening below the league average.

Thus, the reality of Gordon's offensive decline. He used to provide contact, power and patience. He retains only one of those skills, and the collapse of the other two renders it largely useless.

This wouldn't be a deal-breaker if the Royals were getting enough offense elsewhere, which was the case for a time. After starting slow, Kansas City's offense came to life with a .788 OPS in June and July, leading to a 33-19 surge.

But August has been a back-down-to-earth period. The Royals' OPS has deflated to .768, and they have struggled with a 7-12 record. Their deficit in the AL Central race has grown to seven games from just two at the end of July. They're also 1.5 games out in the crowded race for the American League's second wild card.

The Royals need the old Gordon back now more than ever. But after briefly showing signs of life in June and July, he's since regressed enough to warrant a benching earlier this month.

"It's just been a struggle for him," Yost told reporters. "We'll take some days off here and see if he can hit reset a little bit."

There has been no reset. Gordon has a .483 OPS in 10 games since his breather and is down to a .526 OPS since the All-Star break.

As long as Gordon's defense remains elite, it is worth the Royals' while to keep running him out there. But there's virtually no hope that his bat will come alive.

That'll only make it harder to get a leg up in an AL wild-card race in which every contestant needs all the help it can get. Should the Royals fall short, the long list of players they stand to lose to free agency could spell the end to their rise to prominence.

If that's not how things turn out, Gordon will get his chance to relive his better days in October.

If it is how things turn out, he'll spend the latter half of his contract as the Royals' resident reminder of their own better days.

Data courtesy of Baseball Reference, FanGraphs and Baseball Savant.

https://twitter.com/Royals/status/898723981599137792

What's better than a night at the ballgame with your teammates? Finding out the coaching staff decided to make you a scholarship player at the game.

Four lucky University of Kansas football players found out just that on Friday night, as the Royals surprised the players with the news that they had each been awarded a scholarships by the KU coaching staff during the fifth inning.

Mazin Aql, Beau Lawrence, Cole Moos and Reese Randall, all former walk-ons for the program, were shocked to discover their names on the stadium's screen with the news that they'd be scholarship players. 

The result? Emotional reactions and congratulatory hugs and support from their teammates. 

Kansas City Royals catcher Salvador Perez could miss extended time after suffering an intercostal strain after leaving Friday's game against the Seattle Mariners. 

Pete Grathoff of the Kansas City Star reported Perez's injury, adding the Royals will re-evaluate him in 48 hours to determine a potential roster move. 

Grathoff added Royals manager Ned Yost is "relieved" Perez didn't suffer an oblique strain, which typically has a "recovery time of about 8 weeks" and an intercostal strain could have "half" of that recovery time. 

Perez was removed from Friday's game after six innings. He appeared to be wincing in pain following a strikeout against Mariners starter James Paxton in the bottom of the sixth. 

Royals backup catcher Drew Butera took over for Perez behind the plate in the top of the seventh inning. Butera is also in the team's starting lineup for Saturday's game, hitting eighth. 

Losing Perez for an extended period of time would be a huge loss for the Royals, who trail the Cleveland Indians by 3.5 games in the American League Central and are in the second AL wild-card spot. 

The 27-year-old Perez was the AL starting catcher in the All-Star Game. He ranks second on the Royals with 21 home runs and a .510 slugging percentage. 

The Chicago White Sox announced Sunday they traded veteran outfielder Melky Cabrera and cash considerations to the Kansas City Royals for minor league pitchers A.J. Puckett and Andre Davis.

MLB.com's Jeffrey Flanagan reported the Royals will pay $2.5 million of the $7 million remaining on Cabrera's contract this year. 

Cabrera is batting .295 with 13 home runs and 56 RBI in 98 games for the White Sox in 2017. 

He'll join an outfield that ranks 22nd in average WAR (minus-1.0), according to Baseball-Reference.com. While Cabrera will bring some much needed offense, Yahoo Sports' Jeff Passan tweeted he'll also make things tricky for Kansas City manager Ned Yost:

Will be very interesting to see whose ABs Melky Cabrera takes away. Brandon Moss OPSing .854 in second half. Alex Gordon: .231/.311/.269.

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) July 30, 2017

Roughest part for KC is Alex Gordon's contract is quite backloaded. Still owed $44M for next two seasons. His 2017 line: .201/.294/.296.

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) July 30, 2017

Still, the Royals needed to do something to help close the gap on the American League Central-leading Cleveland Indians. Josh Vernier of 610 Sports Radio in Kansas City, Missouri, noted Kansas City's nine-game winning streak, which ended Saturday night, didn't help trim the deficit on Cleveland, which extended its own winning streak to nine games Saturday night:

#Royals last 3 weeks:
7/8 - Loss in L.A. - 3 gms back of CLE

7/18 - Lost 7 of 8 - 3 gms back of CLE

7/29 - Won 9 of 10 - 3 gms back of CLE

— Josh Vernier (@JoshVernier965) July 30, 2017

Cabrera likely won't put the Royals over the top in the division, but he's another experienced option for Yost.

The White Sox, meanwhile, continued their midseason fire sale. They've already dealt Jose Quintana, Todd Frazier, David Robertson, Tommy Kahnle, Jose Quintana, Anthony Swarzak and Dan Jennings. Since he'll be a free agent at the end of the year, Cabrera offered little long-term value to a team undergoing a full-scale rebuild.

Neither Puckett nor Davis has pitched above High-A, so it will surely be a few years before they can help Chicago at the major league level.